Rep. Janice Hahn arrives at her election night party and greets supporters in San Pedro, CA on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. (Photo by Scott Varley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

Steve Napolitano awaits election results in his race for the LA County Board of Supervisors with friends and supporters at the King Harbor Yacht Club in Redondo Beach Tuesday evening.
(Photo for The Daily Breeze by Axel Koester, 11/08/16.)

Fulfilling a lifelong political dream, U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn registered a solid victory Tuesday night, winning a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors where her father once served for 40 years.

For Hahn, 64, the seat has been long viewed as the crown jewel in her political career following stints on the Los Angeles City Council and in Congress.

Her father rode to political fame in his 40 years sitting on the board before term limits were instituted, and she has said there was probably never a time when she wasn’t thinking about a seat on the board.

But she decided to wait until Knabe was termed out of office to run. Now, members are limited to three consecutive four-year terms.

Napolitano, 50, who began his political career on the Manhattan Beach City Council, served as Knabe’s senior deputy since 2005 and made a strong push in the sprawling district that represents 2 million people.

The district stretches from the coastal South Bay through Long Beach and as far northeast as Hacienda Heights. It includes 27 cities and unincorporated areas, including the South Bay beach cities, Marina del Rey, Artesia, Torrance, San Pedro and Norwalk.

In campaign mailers, Hahn tagged Napolitano as a millionaire who was trying to buy the election.

The two spent nearly $2.5 million apiece when it was all said and done, with Napolitano self-funding much of his own campaign.

The county board seats are considered plumb posts. Members oversee billions of dollars in expenditures on issues ranging from taxes to health care.

Members are paid $189,000 a year on top of an annual $3 million allotment for staff, cars, office expenses and causes they wish to personally support.

Hahn launched her political career when she was elected to represent the 15th District, stretching from Watts to the Port of Los Angeles, on the Los Angeles City Council in 2001. Her brother, James Hahn, was elected mayor that same year.

Donna Littlejohn has covered the Harbor Area as a reporter since 1981. Along with development, politics, coyotes, battleships and crime, she writes features that have spotlighted an array of topics, from an alligator on the loose in a city park to the modern-day cowboys who own the trails on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. She loves border collies and Aussie dogs, cats, early California Craftsman architecture and most surviving old stuff. She imagines the 1970s redevelopment sweep that leveled so much of San Pedro's historic waterfront district as very sad.